


Whiskey Lullaby

by daretoliveforever



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Character Death, M/M, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-07
Updated: 2013-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-28 11:54:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/674112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daretoliveforever/pseuds/daretoliveforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off of ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ by Brad Paisley feat. Alison Krauss. </p>
<p>I would say listen to the song, but have a box of tissues with you...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whiskey Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> The song mentions a he and a she. I changed the lyrics to make it slash :|

The sound of gravel crunching could be heard as the rickety old bus rolled down Louis’ street. It had been a long while since Louis saw Harry.

Louis had spent the last 13 months in the military fighting a war that his country didn’t belong in. He didn’t have much of a choice, but he went into the military willingly. Ever since Louis was little, he always dreamed about serving in the British Armed Forces. Granddad Tomlinson served many years ago and would tell Louis all sorts of amazing stories. That’s why Louis enrolled; he wanted to make his granddad proud.

The thought of leaving Harry behind of course crossed his mind when he made the decision. He didn’t want to leave the curly headed boy that had stolen his heart 4 years prier. Harry encouraged Louis to join, he told him ‘it was what you’re meant to do and I’m not going to be the one to stop you.’

When the time came for Louis to leave, it was the hardest thing he had ever done. As Louis looked into Harry’s crystal green eyes, his heart told him to stay. Harry promised Louis that once he returned, they would start a family. They would be together forever and raise a family. Louis wanted that. He so desperately wanted to have a family with Harry.

Before Louis boarded the bus he grabbed hold of Harry and left him with a passionate kiss to remember him by.

After 13 long months away, Louis was finally returning. The rickety bus pulled up long side the curb.

The driver opened the door and called out “Tomlinson. You’re home.”

Louis stood up. He reached above him to grab his one duffle bag. That’s all he had, one bag that contained his life.

The slender boy, worn away by war, stepped toward the door. The driver looked up at Louis, peering over his sunglasses.

“You got anyone special waitin’?” The man with a thick southern American accent asked.

Louis nodded his head, a smile spreading across his face. His eyes went distant as he remembered Harry’s smile.

“Well then you better get to them.” He said giving Louis a generous smile.

Smiling at the bus driver, Louis turned and stepped out onto the rough gravel.

The house still looked the same. White walls with tan shutters. A large tree sat out front, its branches swaying lightly in the wind.

The bus pulled away, taking off down the street to take the other men home.

Taking a shaky breath, Louis started walking towards the house. He couldn’t wait to see Harry again. He wanted to hold the younger boy tight and place kisses onto his jaw. He wanted to be able to run his hands through Harry’s soft curls again and feel his hand firmly gripping his.

Louis stepped up onto the porch, the old house creaking under the weight of Louis’ body.

He opened the door and walked inside. Seeing the house, memories flooded back to Louis. He began to remember all the little things he and Harry did. The pictures by the front door welcomed him. He saw their smiling faces, looking as happy as ever.

Louis set his bag down. It was fairly early still and knowing Harry, he would still be curled up in bed.

He climbed the stairs to the room where he and Harry had spent so much time together, the room where he and Harry slept and made love.

When Louis reached the top stair, he turned to walk down the hall. The bedroom door was only a few feet away. Different scenarios played out in Louis’ head of what Harry would do when he saw that Louis was home.

Standing in front of the old oak door, Louis pushed it open.

Harry was there. But so was another man.

_He put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette_

Louis’ heart sank. He saw the boy he loved in bed with another.

Harry’s eyes widened when he saw Louis standing in the doorway. Guilt washed over him. He knew that he had screwed up when he first invited the other man in, but now he felt himself break as he saw Louis crumple before his eyes.

Turning around, Louis walked away.

_He broke his heart; he spent his whole life tryin’ to forget_

Harry went after Louis, but Louis didn’t care. The boy he loved turned his back on him. He cheated and Louis didn’t want anything to do with Harry.

Louis left. He didn’t come back. But the worst of it all was he still loved Harry. He still wanted to be with him and start the family they had promised so long ago.

Louis was broken. Everything that he did reminded him of the curly headed boy. Nothing he could do could get him off his mind. He wanted to forget. He tried so hard to forget, to move on. But nothing worked. At the end of the day, he still remembered the dimples that formed of Harry’s cheeks when he smiled, the way Harry’s eyes would light up when he saw Louis enter the room.

The depression had kicked in the second Louis walked out the door. The only way he knew how to rid himself of his thoughts was through drinking.

_We watched him drink his pain away, a little at a time_

He drank to forget. Louis would go to a pub and drink heavily. He didn’t care how much he was spending or how much he was drinking. He was doing it to forget. When the bartender would cut him off for the night, Louis would go to the liquor store to buy more.

Every night Louis would get drunk. Every day he woke up with a hangover. But Louis liked it. The throbbing in his head took his mind off of Harry. Even if it was only for a short time, Louis forgot.

But after a while, the alcohol wasn’t working. Louis would drink and drink, but he still remembered. When he looked at other people, they all looked like Harry. He couldn’t forget him no matter how hard he tried.

_But he never could get drunk enough to get him off his mind_

The pain of losing Harry was getting too much for Louis. He was tired of remembering. He was tired of the pain that Harry had caused.

Nothing could make him forget.

_Until the night_

Louis wanted out. He wanted to escape. That’s how he found himself with a bottle in one hand and a gun in another.

_He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger_

Louis was done. He couldn’t handle the cruel world any longer. He took the bottle and drank. He drank the whole thing. He had done this every night, but tonight was different.

He was drinking to forget, but this time, he was sure he would forget.

_And finally drank away his memory_

As tears ran down Louis’ face, he put the gun to his head. Without a second thought, he pulled the trigger. But not before he whispered “I loved you.”

_Life is short, but this time it was bigger_

_Than the strength he had to get up off his knees_

Louis had finally succeeded. He finally forgot him. He forgot about Harry and how much he loved him.

He also forgot about himself.

_We found him with his face down in the pillow_

Louis sister, Lottie, found him. She had gone over to see if Louis was OK. She knew that he was back, but they hadn’t seen him. Louis only called them once, but that was the last they had heard.

Lottie walked into the dirty apartment. She found Louis in bed. He was dead. She had screamed. Then she cried.

She found a note that Louis had written.

_With a note that said I’ll love him till I die_

Lottie was reading the note through tear soaked eyes and shaking hands. She had heard the rumors about Harry’s betrayal, but she never knew that it would lead her brother to this.

A few days later, Louis was laid to rest.

_And when we buried him beneath the willow_

Louis was finally at peace.

_The angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

Harry watched as they laid Louis down. His eyes filled with tears as the only person he loved was placed into the cold hard ground.

People knew what had happened. That was the problem with a small town. Word flew fast. The rumors were true of course. Everyone blamed Harry for Louis’ death.

Harry blamed himself more than anything.

_The rumors flew but nobody knew how much he blamed himself_

When Louis had walked out the door, Harry knew he lost the one person that meant more to him than anything. He tried to fix it. But Louis wouldn’t budge.

Harry loved Louis no matter what. Harry tired to forget. But he couldn’t, he kept blaming himself for his stupid mistake. He never knew the damage that his mistake would make.

Harry drank. He drank to forget about the pain that he felt of losing Louis. He missed the older lad. He missed him so badly that he tried to mask it with the hazy of alcohol.

_For years and years, he tried to hide the whiskey on his breath_

He couldn’t escape the knowledge of his betrayal. From the time Louis left, Harry slowly crumbled into nothing.

Alcohol seemed like the only way he could forget. He drank a lot. It helped, but only temporarily.

_He finally drank his pain away a little at a time_

Eventually, Harry would remember. He would remember the look on Louis’ face when he walked into the room. He remembers the hurt in Louis’ eyes. But the worst was remembering when Louis walked away.

_But he never could get drunk enough to get him off his mind_

The pain was becoming unbearably. Harry would wake every day knowing what he lost.

When he heard that Louis was dead, that he had killed himself, Harry lost control. He lost every ounce of will to live. He didn’t want to be in the world anymore.

After he saw Louis being placed into the ground, he tried harder than ever to forget. But it didn’t work. It only made the memories worse.

Harry was done.

_Until the night_

Harry sat alone in the room he and Louis shared so long ago. He had a bottle in hand.

He drank for release, but it did nothing. It only numbed his head. Harry was tired of the pain. He wanted to be with Louis, but Louis was gone.

Harry picked up the gun that sat on the side table.

_He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger_

Harry gave up. No longer would he feel the lasting ache in his chest. He would no longer hear the whispers of his betrayal. He wouldn’t hear the voice in his head screaming that he killed Louis.

He drank to forget, and this time it worked.

_And finally drank away his memory_

Harry pulled the trigger to the gun. He no longer remembered the bad. The last thing Harry thought before he slipped into death was the smiling face of the boy he loved.

_Life is short, but this time it was bigger_

_Than the strength he had to get up off his knees_

Harry’s mum, Anne, found him the next day. She should have been surprised that her son took his life, but it wasn’t. She saw the pain Harry was going through. She saw him trying to forget.

When Louis died, she knew Harry would crack. She knew that Harry would lose the will to live. That’s why she came over, she wanted to help. But she was too late.

_We found him with his face down in the pillow_

Harry was gone.

When Anne walked up to Harry’s lifeless body, she found something that broke her heart.

Harry had died, but he died clinging to Louis. A crumpled up picture lay in Harry’s hand.

_Clinging to his picture for dear life_

Some people didn’t think it was right, but Louis and Harry’s family knew it was.

A few days after Harry took his life, they laid him beside the only man he loved.

_We laid him next to him beneath the willow_

No matter how hard they tried, they still loved each other. They died loving each other. Together they will lie side by side.

They could never forget because they loved each other too much.

_While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

Louis and Harry were finally together. They were finally at peace.

 


End file.
